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China's Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) announced the country's 2010 production quotas for antimony concentrate and rare earth oxide on March 15, which stand at 100,000 tons and 89,200 tons respectively, measured by metal content, up 10.89 percent and 8.36 percent year-on-year.

The MLR declared that it will continue its policy to limit the production of tungsten as well as antimony and rare earth in accordance with China's resources, current mining and exploration rights, and market demand.

Before June 30, 2011, the government will stop issuing new licenses for domestic exploration and mining of tungsten, rare earth and antimony resources, except certain special deposits such as those that have been approved and funded by the central government.

Hunan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have obtained quotas accounting for 79.11 percent of this year's total antimony production quota, while the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province received quotas for 80.72 percent of the total rare earth production quota.

The MLR also increased China's production quota for tungsten concentrate in 2010 to 80,000 tons, up 16.69 percent year-on-year.